[Edaily Reporter Yun Junghoon ] It has been confirmed thatLG Uplus(032640)continues to list its "Information Security Daesang"—an award that was revoked during the government review process—on its mobile app and in materials for the global telecommunications industry. After making the same error in its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report last July, the company promised to "thoroughly review its verification procedures," but this promise has been rendered meaningless as the same issue has recurred.

Upon checking LGU+’s “U+ One” app on the 15th, it was found that the “Information Security Daesang” win was listed on the “U+: Serious About Security, Vol. 2” page within the “AI/Security” section.

This content highlights LGU+’s major security achievements and includes the fact that the company received the Daesang at the Information Security Awards. In effect, a revoked government award is still being presented as a security achievement on the company’s own app, which consumers directly access.

The problem is that the award in question has already been revoked. Last August, LG Corp. received the Minister of Science and ICT Daesang—the highest honor at the “24th Information Security Awards.” However, following a government investigation into allegations of hacking, the Ministry’s review committee revoked the award in accordance with relevant regulations.

Nevertheless, the award history has not been removed from the app content managed directly by ABKO CO., LTD.

The same issue can be found in global mobile communications industry materials. LG U+’s record of receiving the Minister’s Daesang at the Information Security Awards is also listed in the “Fraud Response Case Library” released by the GSMA on May 29.

This document explains LGU+’s information security capabilities while introducing its voice phishing countermeasures and anti-deep voice technologies. It includes details that LGU+ invested 82.8 billion won in information security in 2024 and plans to invest 700 billion won over the next five years, along with achievements such as Exio’s suspicious call detection and anti-deep voice technology’s detection of forged and altered voices.

The GSMA explicitly named LGU+ as a participating organization and cited its history of receiving the Minister’s Daesang for Information Security as one of the achievements supporting its security capabilities. In other words, a government award that was revoked in South Korea is still being used in global mobile communications industry materials as evidence of LGU+’s security competitiveness.

Previously, LGU+ sparked controversy by listing its revoked Information Security Daesang in its Sustainable Management Report published last July. Under the “Awards and Certifications” section of that report, LGU+ stated that it had received the Minister of Science and ICT Daesang at the 24th Information Security Daesang, describing it as “the only top award won by a domestic mobile carrier.”

At the time, LGU+ explained, “The award details were included when the report was drafted but were not corrected during the review process after the award was revoked,” adding, “We will make our review procedures more thorough to ensure this issue does not recur in the future.”

However, since the same award history has since been confirmed not only in the company’s own app but also in global industry materials, critics argue that this cannot be viewed as merely a one-time oversight in the report’s review process. In particular, given that the Information Security Awards are presented by the government to evaluate information security levels and achievements, failure to clearly reflect the revocation of the award could lead consumers or the international industry to misjudge the company’s current security capabilities.

LGU+ is currently under investigation by the Personal Information Protection Commission regarding allegations of a personal information leak; the company is accused of reinstalling server operating systems and decommissioning some servers during the course of the investigation.

A telecommunications industry official pointed out, “The revocation of a government award is a matter directly linked to security credibility,” adding, “Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, allowing incorrect information to stand is an act that erodes consumer and market trust.”